Becoming a PA
There are
more than 135 accredited PA programs. Most of them
award master’s degrees. A few offer an option for
receiving a master’s degree through an affiliation
agreement with another institution. Less than
one-fourth of the programs award bachelor’s degrees or
have a bachelor’s degree option, 4 award associate
degrees, and 39 award certificates, generally in
combination with another credential.
The PA programs are intensive and are generally 25-27
months long. Typically students spend most of the first
year or so in the classroom studying the sciences and
clinical skills that are basic to medicine. During the
second phase of the program, students do clinical rotations
in many specialty areas, including family medicine,
surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency
medicine, and geriatric medicine.
Most PA programs have more applicants than openings. The
majority of students who are accepted into PA programs have
completed an undergraduate degree and have several years of
health care experience, for example, as paramedics, health
educators, corpsman or registered nurses. Some students
have volunteered or worked at a hospital, clinic, or
nursing home.
To read about a
few of the schools and programs that recruit/support
American Indian and Alaska Native students, see
Schools/Programs